#UK 🇬🇧 | Ukraine 🇺🇦

[xtruss]

World: A Growing BRICS Bloc Shows U.S. Is Losing the Battle for the Global South

— BY Tom O'Connor | August 22, 2023

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Delivers a Speech at the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. © Sputnik/Grigory Sysoev/Go to the Mediabank

While Russian President Vladimir Putin's in-person absence due to international legal troubles looms over the BRICS conference attended by the leaders of fellow member states Brazil, India, China and South Africa, the growing interest in expanding the group to include additional countries from across the globe is likely to cement the bloc's future as a force in global geopolitics.

And with no seat at the table for the United States, the three-day summit that began Tuesday in Johannesburg demonstrates how Washington has struggled to project influence throughout the vast, developing Global South.

"The U.S. is trailing countries such as Russia, India and China in the Global South," Akhil Ramesh, a senior fellow at the Hawaii-based Pacific Forum, told Newsweek. "The Global South does not have this special solidarity it has with nations such as China and India. As victims of Western imperialism/colonialism and having faced similar challenges in reconstruction and development, they have a unique solidarity."

"The U.S. approach continues to be one where they use nations of the Global South as pawns in their future, larger cold/hot conflict with China or Russia," Ramesh added. "This understandably has not helped them win friends."

Such solidarity continues to extend to Putin, who has accelerated his country's outreach to developing nations, especially in Africa, in recent years.

Moscow's overtures have been met with ongoing interest, as evidenced by the recent Russia-Africa Summit in Saint Petersburg. The summit was attended by 16 African heads of state and representatives of 25 additional African countries, even as the West has accused Putin of war crimes, resulting in an International Criminal Court warrant, and of weaponizing food by bombing grain infrastructure and allowing a deal that safeguarded the continued export of Ukrainian grains via the Black Sea to collapse.

U.S. warnings about forging closer economic ties with China have been met with even stiffer resistance, as President Xi Jinping presses on with his ambitious Belt and Road Initiative extending across continents despite a slowing economy at home.

Ramesh argued that nations of the Global South simply "do not view Beijing and Moscow the same way the West does," and instead see new opportunities where traditional mechanisms have failed.

"So, when there was a group presenting an alternative to the Western-led world order/vision of the world," he added, "nations were quick to jump on the bandwagon."

Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment.

Still, obstacles to progress exist within a bloc whose core members already have little alignment in their broader geopolitical goals, while some, especially China and India, have active disputes between them. Such feuds have the potential to only grow as the coalition considers taking on new members, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Others who have applied include Algeria 🇩🇿, Argentina 🇦🇷, Bahrain 🇧🇭, Bangladesh 🇧🇩, Belarus 🇧🇾, Bolivia 🇧🇴, Cuba 🇨🇺, Egypt 🇪🇬, Ethiopia 🇪🇹, Honduras 🇭🇳, Indonesia 🇮🇩, Kazakhstan 🇰🇿, Kuwait 🇰🇼, Morocco 🇲🇦, Nigeria 🇳🇬, the Palestinian National Authority 🇵🇸, Senegal 🇸🇳, Thailand 🇹🇭, the United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪, Venezuela 🇻🇪 and Vietnam 🇻🇳, according to the most recent count offered last week by South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor.

Brazil, Lula, arrives, BRICS, summit, South, Africa! Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrives in Johannesburg, South Africa ahead of the 15th BRICS summit. The leaders of 67 countries have been invited to join the forum led by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Ricardo Stuckert/Presidency of The Federative Republic of Brazil

"Those who are there for the day-to-day negotiations, at least from the Brazilian government side, say it is already very hard to come to consensus when you have China, India and Russia at the table," Ana Elisa Saggioro Garcia, a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro's Institute of International Relations and general coordinator of the BRICS Policy Center, told Newsweek.

But "there's another side of the story," she said. That's the growing view, including from Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, that "a strong BRICS" is necessary, and a "strong BRICS is also a big BRICS."

South Africa, the current chair, is the only nation to have been added to what began as an informal BRIC bloc, born out of a term coined by then-Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill in 2001 to describe emerging economic powers. Russia led the initiative to bring Brazil, China and India together for the first summit in 2009, and South Africa was admitted the following year.

Initially, BRICS was focused on effecting reform within existing, primarily Western-led economic institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis.

"The first common agenda that they had, despite their differences, was the reform of the international financial architecture," Garcia said. "So, international financial institutions, those grounded in the Bretton Woods Conference, in the post-war period, they do not represent the world anymore. Those huge economies don't have enough voice in those institutions, they need to be reformed. They need to reflect the new configuration of the world economic power."

© Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Go to the Mediabank

Gradually, the group became more focused on creating alternative mechanisms, most notably in the establishment in 2014 of the Shanghai-based New Development Bank, which today also counts Bangladesh, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates as members. With this transformation, Garcia explained, "the geopolitical character of BRICS started to be more important and more relevant than only the economic one."

China, in particular, she argued, "has been very clever and very strategic to use this opportunity to advance and to expand another coalition where China is predominant, where China doesn't have to deal with negotiations with Western powers."

But as evidenced by Brazil's enthusiasm for a more active role for BRICS and the growing list of prospective members, it's not all about Beijing.

"BRICS has become this pole of attraction of all countries now who've seen that they can have more power if they ally with a coalition such as BRICS to face measures that the West has been doing for years now," Garcia said, "and also to face these sorts of constraints and repression in terms of worldview and values."

Ryan Berg, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' (CSIS) Americas Program in Washington, D.C., also discussed how countries like Brazil were becoming more interested in the geopolitical nature of BRICS as an exercise in "active nonalignment."

"It can heighten the relevance of a country like Brazil, which is sometimes overlooked and feels overlooked and neglected," Berg said in response to Newsweek's question during a CSIS call held in the leadup to the BRICS summit.

"By pursuing this strategy," he explained, "you can basically make it a competition for the affection or for the attention of major world powers or leading world powers that would otherwise overlook Brazil's position on a particular issue."

BRICS, Summit, South, Africa, 2018! (Left to right) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-Brazilian President Michel Temer pose for a group picture during the 10th BRICS summit on July 26, 2018 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. South Africa's most populous city against hosts the BRICS summit in 2023, after each of the other four members hosted gatherings, three of which were virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mike Hutchings/POOL/AFP/Getty Images

Speaking on the same call, CSIS Africa Program director Mvemba Phezo Dizolele highlighted the importance of the host nation itself, saying BRICS membership "strengthened the position of South Africa among non-aligned countries" at a polarizing time in global geopolitics.

"Non-aligned countries have absolutely been at odds at least with Western countries, particularly ideologically because they do not want to align either with the Russians or with the United States and allies," Dizolele said.

A key goal for the summit's participants "will be discussing their disillusionment with U.S. leadership or at least the U.S.-led coalition around the world and how that world order is affecting adversely the countries of the Global South," he said, noting that "this will be a time when they will be seeking an alternative to that power."

The phenomenon of a competition among major powers to court the Global South was also observed by Mrityunjay Tripathi, a research fellow at the New Delhi-based Public Policy Research Center who previously served as part of India's delegation to the 2018 BRICS Youth Summit in South Africa.

"U.S. attempts to engage the Global South will only benefit the region, as the U.S. will act as a balancing power in the region dominated by China," Tripathi told Newsweek. "This competition will only benefit the developing economies and the multipolarity of the BRICS will ensure that region remains free and open to all."

Here, he said that "the presence of India adds credibility to BRICS and assures the West that India will act as a balancing power in the alliance that consists of Russia and China."

While New Delhi and Washington have strengthened ties in recent years, this does not mean total alignment in their positions. Tripathi argued that the trends apparent in the summit and context surrounding it show that Washington was on the backfoot in this competition over developing nations.

BRICS, Business, Forum, meets, in, South, Africa! (From left to right) Shaogang Zhang, vice chair of China's Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Onkar Singh Kanwar, chair of the BRICS Business Council's India chapter, Sergei Katyrin, chair of the BRICS Business Council's Russia chapter, José Serrador, chair of the BRICS Business Council's Brazil chapter, Busi Mabuza, chair of the BRICS Business Council's South Africa chapter, and Nozipho Tshabalala, CEO of the Conversation Strategist, attend a panel discussion during the 2023 BRICS Business Forum in Sandton, north of Johannesburg, South Africa, on August 22. Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Images

"The growing interest in BRICS does suggest that the U.S.' attempts to assert influence, particularly across the Global South, have not always produced desired results," Tripathi said. "The rise of BRICS is indicative of a shift in power dynamics from the traditionally Western-dominated world order to a more multipolar global scenario."

A key part of this shift identified by Tripathi was not only expansion, but the vision of "instituting a common currency," something that "further solidifies the group's commitment to long-term sustainable progress of the Global South."

"A common currency will not only boost intra-BRICS trade," he added," but also eliminate the high dollar conversion costs of international transactions."

Shen Shiwei, a journalist and analyst with a background in Chinese business dealings in Africa and the Middle East, argued that "the only thing that can beat the U.S. dollar is the dollar itself, driven by weaponization from Washington."

"The global trend of increasing the use of multiple currencies, instead of fully relying on U.S. dollars, is not a new idea," Shen told Newsweek. "Three decades ago, the euro was created in part because the majority of the EU wanted to move away from its deep reliance on the U.S. dollar."

"The dollar is still essential to global investments and trade," he added, "but the process of de-dollarization is accelerating, mainly because its weaponization has caused an erosion of confidence and alerted emerging economies to take actions to safeguard economic security."

People walk past a banner outside the venue for the 2023 BRICS Summit at the Sandton Convention Centre in Sandton, Johannesburg, on August 20. The BRICS countries, an acronym of the five members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, meet for three days for a summit in Johannesburg from August 22-24. Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Images

The U.S. dollar continues to command a significant lead against competitors, comprising some 59 percent of the world's foreign exchange reserves. The euro constitutes around 20 percent, with other currencies such as the Japanese yen, the United Kingdom's pound sterling and the Chinese renminbi in the single digits.

Still, a number of countries, particularly members of BRICS, have called for conducting bilateral trade in their own national currencies, and the idea of a common currency has been increasingly put forth. In April, Lula delivered an impassioned speech at the New Development Bank headquarters in which he railed against the notion that "all countries are forced to do their trade backed by the dollar."

The message has continued to gain traction among existing and prospective BRICS members.

"But that doesn't mean BRICS is anti-West," Shen said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses BRICS summit in South Africa, August 22, 2023. © Sputnik/Grigory Sysoev

He argued that "the zero-sum game narrative developed in the West that the BRICS was created as competition to the G7 or the Global North is very misleading."

The G7, officially the Group of Seven, is a bloc consisting of the world's largest developed economies, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the U.K., with participation from the European Union as well. The G7 existed as the G8 until 2014, when it was expelled due to its role in the first major outbreak of conflict in Ukraine.

"All BRICS members have important political and economic cooperation with the G7 countries," Shen said. "More importantly, BRICS doesn't want to copy the Western hegemony in mentality and reality, which has brought too many problems to the Global South."

As opposed to the G7, "the BRICS mechanism has met the demands of the Global South, especially marginalized countries, to advance a collective agenda and push the building of a more inclusive, representative, just and fair global architecture," Shen argued.

"BRICS is not an exclusive club or small circle," he added, "but a big family of good partners."

[girlactionfigure]

HERE is the list of the 134 countries that are NOT supporting South Africa's 🇿🇦 claims of genocide against Israel 🇮🇱:

🇦🇩 Andorra 

🇦🇴 Angola 

🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda 

🇦🇷 Argentina 

🇦🇲 Armenia 

🇦🇺 Australia 

🇦🇹 Austria 

🇧🇸 Bahamas 

🇧🇧 Barbados 

🇧🇾 Belarus 

🇧🇿 Belize 

🇧🇹 Bhutan 

🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina 

🇧🇼 Botswana 

🇧🇬 Bulgaria 

🇧🇮 Burundi 

🇨🇻 Cabo Verde 

🇰🇭 Cambodia 

🇨🇦 Canada 

🇨🇫 Central African Republic 

🇨🇱 Chile 

🇨🇳 China 

🇰🇲 Comoros 

🇨🇬 Congo 

🇨🇷 Costa Rica 

🇭🇷 Croatia 

🇨🇺 Cuba 

🇨🇾 Cyprus 

🇨🇿 Czech Republic 

🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo 

🇩🇰 Denmark 

🇩🇲 Dominica 

🇩🇴 Dominican Republic 

🇹🇱 East Timor (Timor-Leste) 

🇪🇨 Ecuador 

🇸🇻 El Salvador 

🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea 

🇪🇷 Eritrea 

🇪🇪 Estonia 

🇸🇿 Eswatini 

🇪🇹 Ethiopia 

🇫🇯 Fiji 

🇫🇮 Finland 

🇫🇷 France 

🇬🇪 Georgia 

🇩🇪 Germany 

🇬🇭 Ghana 

🇬🇷 Greece 

🇬🇩 Grenada 

🇬🇹 Guatemala 

🇭🇹 Haiti 

🇭🇳 Honduras 

🇭🇺 Hungary 

🇮🇸 Iceland 

🇮🇳 India 

🇮🇪 Ireland 

🇮🇹 Italy 

🇯🇲 Jamaica 

🇯🇵 Japan 

🇰🇪 Kenya 

🇰🇮 Kiribati 

🇰🇵 Korea, North (North Korea) 

🇰🇷 Korea, South (South Korea) 

🇽🇰 Kosovo 

🇱🇦 Laos 

🇱🇻 Latvia 

🇱🇸 Lesotho 

🇱🇷 Liberia 

🇱🇮 Liechtenstein 

🇱🇹 Lithuania 

🇱🇺 Luxembourg 

🇲🇬 Madagascar 

🇲🇼 Malawi

🇲🇹 Malta 

🇲🇭 Marshall Islands 

🇲🇺 Mauritius 

🇲🇽 Mexico 

🇫🇲 Micronesia 

🇲🇩 Moldova 

🇲🇨 Monaco 

🇲🇳 Mongolia 

🇲🇪 Montenegro 

🇲🇲 Myanmar (Burma) 

🇳🇷 Nauru 

🇳🇵 Nepal 

🇳🇱 Netherlands 

🇳🇿 New Zealand 

🇳🇮 Nicaragua 

🇲🇰 North Macedonia (Macedonia) 

🇳🇴 Norway 

🇵🇼 Palau 

🇵🇦 Panama 

🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea 

🇵🇾 Paraguay 

🇵🇪 Peru 

🇵🇭 Philippines 

🇵🇱 Poland 

🇵🇹 Portugal 

🇷🇴 Romania 

🇷🇺 Russia 

🇷🇼 Rwanda 

🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and Nevis 

🇱🇨 Saint Lucia 

🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 

🇼🇸 Samoa 

🇸🇲 San Marino 

🇸🇹 Sao Tome and Principe 

🇷🇸 Serbia 

🇸🇨 Seychelles 

🇸🇱 Sierra Leone 

🇸🇬 Singapore 

🇸🇰 Slovakia 

🇸🇮 Slovenia 

🇸🇧 Solomon Islands 

🇪🇸 Spain 

🇱🇰 Sri Lanka 

🇸🇪 Sweden

🇨🇭 Switzerland 

🇹🇼 Taiwan 

🇹🇿 Tanzania 

🇹🇭 Thailand 

🇹🇴 Tonga 

🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago 

🇹🇳 Tunisia 

🇹🇲 Turkmenistan 

🇹🇻 Tuvalu 

🇺🇦 Ukraine 

🇬🇧 United Kingdom (UK) 

🇺🇸 United States of America (USA) 

🇺🇾 Uruguay 

🇻🇺 Vanuatu 

🇻🇦 Vatican City 

🇻🇳 Vietnam 

🇿🇲 Zambia 

🇿🇼 Zimbabwe

[xoheisse]

Ukraine BREAKS “death spot” in (2nd running order) curse by placing 3rd 🥉 making it HIGHEST placing entry in 22 YEARS from this spot since UK’s 🇬🇧 2002 Jessica Garlick “Come Back"

I'm so proud of them! 🇺🇦🤍

original post

[unibrowzz]

Early ESC 2025 predictions

Anyways, here's what kind of bullshittery I'm expecting next year.

🇧🇬 Bulgaria: Teases a return on social media. They announce their non-participation a day later.

🇲🇨 Monaco: Someone famous from there who is not a singer announces they'll compete if Monaco enters. They are swiftly shot down by TV Monaco.

🇽🇰 Kosovo's request for an invite is ignored.

🇱🇮 Lichtenstein: Someone at 1FLTV breathes the word "Eurovision", setting the news sites alight. They do not compete.

🇺🇦 Ukraine: Jury favourite wins Vidbir. They're soon disqualified after breaking some immigration law the Ukrainian government pulled out of its ass and the televote favourite gets sent instead.

🇸🇪 Sweden: Same old, same old, clean polished pop song nobody aside from Swedish people, the ESC jury and normie televoters like. 6th place.

🇧🇪 Belgium: Goes back to an NF. Fan favourite entry (see: something with nothing noteworthy about it other than being in French) doesn't get sent. Cue butthurt.

🇫🇷 France: Does what they did last year and pulls a random bestselling artist out of a hat. Top 10 finish.

🇮🇹 Italy: Usual schtick, sends something which does gangbusters on Spotify and Apple but is ultimately held back by crappy staging and weak live vocals. Comes top 10 regardless.

🇲🇩 Moldova: It's their turn to be the next Käärijä or Baby Lasagna. Top 3 finish.

🇵🇹 Portugal: Sends a breathy-voiced Billie Eilish wannabe with a murky blue stage. Does surprisingly well.

🇮🇪 Ireland: Cruachan finally get into the Late Late NF Special. They lose out to some Voice UK reject and a song written by a music student from London with an Irish surname. The fandom is not pleased.

🇸🇲 San Marino: Holds another dismally long NF full of the usual rejects from other, more popular, NFs. Doesn't qualify.

🇬🇷 Greece: Hires a stable full of Melfest regulars to write a song for some bi-national diaspora born and raised anywhere in the world but Greece to perform.

🇨🇾 Cyprus: See above, just replace the bi-national with "some Australian with Greek heritage".

🇬🇧 United Kingdom: All the good artists got scared off again so we're back to one hit wonders from 20 years ago and/or absolute nobodies destined for the right side of the scoreboard. British tabloids have a field day.

[mokhosz-nafo]

FANTASTIC NEWS TODAY 🔝

⚡️ Biden has authorized the first use of U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles by Ukraine for strikes inside Russia, - NYT

🇫🇷🇬🇧 France and UK authorized Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with their SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles, - Le Figaro

🚀 Ukraine plans to conduct its first long-range attacks in the coming days, - Reuters

🇺🇸 ATACMS missiles with a range of up to 306 km are expected to be used for strikes, - NYT

✈️ Today, our F-16 pilots shot down about 10 air targets, — Zelensky

🔥 HIMARS strike in Zaporizhzhia region on Russian infantry.

✅ G7 leaders pledged further assistance to Ukraine.

💥 UAVs attacked Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant that produces "Tor" air defense systems.

🇵🇱 No-one will stop Putin with phone calls. The next weeks will be decisive, not only for the war itself, but also for our future, - Tusk

🇰🇵 Allowing the Ukrainians to use the long-range ATACMS missiles came in response to Russia’s surprise decision to bring North Korean troops into the fight, - NYT

🇫🇷 I don't see the point in calling Putin like Olaf Scholz did. Putin doesn't want peace, - Macron

SUPPORT ME 💙💛

☕️ buymeacoffee.com/MAKS22

✅ PayPal: maksmu24@ukr.net

🆕 https://ko-fi.com/maks24

☑️ patreon.com/Maks24

[thatssosussex]

Day 5 of the Invictus Games 2023 (9/14/23). The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attend the sitting volleyball match between Team Nigeria 🇳🇬 and Team Ukraine 🇺🇦, at the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Meghan embraces a British woman from team UK 🇬🇧 after she tells meghan that “I hate what people do to you in the media. Just know that we love you”. That last part was cut off, but I’m guessing she means that the British people love her despite what the British media likes to portray. 🥺

[cutulisci]

Percentage of black people in European populations:

🇫🇷 France: 8.43%

🇵🇹 Portugal: 4.35%

🇬🇧 UK: 3.95%

🇧🇪 Belgium: 3.57%

��🇪 Sweden: 3.09%

🇳🇱 Netherlands: 2.83%

🇳🇴 Norway: 2.50%

🇨🇭 Switzerland: 2.11%

🇮🇪 Ireland: 1.31%

🇮🇹 Italy: 1.20%

🇪🇸 Spain: 1.17%

🇩🇰 Denmark: 0.91%

🇫🇮 Finland: 0.85%

🇩🇪 Germany: 0.65%

🇦🇹 Austria: 0.51%

🇪🇪 Estonia: 0.10%

🇭🇺 Hungary: 0.08%

🇨🇿 Czechia: 0.04%

🇷🇴 Romania: 0.03%

🇵🇱 Poland: 0.02%

🇷🇺 Russia: 0.02%

🇱🇻 Latvia: 0.02%

🇷🇸 Serbia: 0.01%

🇺🇦 Ukraine: 0.01%

According to Eurostat and other countries sources. 2020 or latest available data.

[stegal]

Food annual inflation rate

🇻🇪 Venezuela: 403%

🇱🇧 Lebanon: 278%

🇦🇷 Argentina: 116%

🇪🇬 Egypt: 68.4%

🇹🇷 Turkey: 60.7%

🇵🇰 Pakistan: 39.5%

🇮🇷 Iran: 37.1%

🇳🇬 Nigeria: 26.9%

🇭🇺 Hungary: 22%

🇪🇪 Estonia: 16.4%

🇵🇱 Poland: 15.6%

🇬🇧 UK: 14.8%

🇧🇪 Belgium: 13.8%

🇺🇦 Ukraine: 13.3%

🇫🇷 France: 12.7%

🇮🇳 India: 11.5%

🇳🇱 Netherlands: 11.5%

🇨🇱 Chile: 11%

🇩🇪 Germany: 10.9%

🇮🇹 Italy: 10.9%

🇪🇸 Spain: 10.8%

🇸🇪 Sweden: 10.5%

🇦🇹 Austria: 10.5%

🇿🇦 South Africa: 9.9%

🇧🇩 Bangladesh: 9.7%

🇳🇴 Norway: 8.8%

🇮🇪 Ireland: 8.8%

🇯🇵 Japan: 8.8%

🇫🇮 Finland: 8.2%

🇨🇦 Canada: 7.8%

🇦🇺 Australia: 7.5%

🇲🇽 Mexico: 7.3%

🇩🇰 Denmark: 6.6%

🇵🇭 Philippines: 6.3%

🇸🇬 Singapore: 5.3%

🇨🇭 Switzerland: 5.3%

🇺🇸 US: 4.9%

🇦🇪 UAE: 3.86%

🇻🇳 Vietnam: 3.79%

🇰🇷 South Korea: 3.39%

🇷🇺 Russia: 2.23%

🇧🇷 Brazil: 2.2%

🇭🇰 Hong Kong: 2.1%

🇮🇩 Indonesia: 1.9%

🇶🇦 Qatar: 1.5%

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia: 1.3%

🇨🇳 China: -1.7%

[crowdsfox]

Hi guys i'm back! This time i wanna talk about Eurovision 2023 what Came yesterday night. Here is an overviews from Everery country who was a part of Eurovision. I begin from last to first with the Points they haven.

26. 🇩🇪 Germany | 18 points

25. 🇬🇧 Uk | 24 points

24. 🇷🇸 Serbie | 30 Points

23. 🇵🇹 Portugal | 59 points

22. 🇦🇱 Albania | 76 points

21. 🇸🇮 Slovenia | 78 points

20. 🇨🇭 Switzerland | 92 points

19. 🇵🇱 Poland | 93 points

18. 🇲🇩 Moldavia | 96 points

17. 🇪🇸 Spain | 100 points

16. 🇫🇷 France | 104 points

15. 🇦🇹 Austria | 120 points

14. 🇦🇲 Armenia | 122 points

13. 🇭🇷 Croatia | 123 points

12. Cyprus | 126 points

11. 🇱🇹 Litouwen | 127 points

🔟 🇨🇿 Tsjechië | 129 points

9️⃣ 🇦🇺 Australia | 151 points

8️⃣ 🇪🇪 Estonia | 168 points

7️⃣ 🇧🇪 Belgium | 182 points

6️⃣ 🇺🇦 Ukraine | 243 points

5️⃣ 🇳🇴 Norway | 268 points

4️⃣ 🇮🇹 Italy | 350 points

🥉 🇮🇱 Israel | 362 points🥉

🥈🇫🇮 Finland | 526 points🥈

🥇🇸🇪 Sweden | 583🥇

Here is a song from the winner Loreen with the song Tattoo. You also can find it on YouTube.

That's it for today, have a great day!!

[slav-disaster]

Ok guys, this is my top37 for this years esc. Except for the first 5, this is all based on one time listen.

But this is so hard, idk how people do this every year. I realized i actually only have like three moods when it comes to judging songs: 1. this shit slpas (1-5), yes this is a song I enjoy, don't overthink it (5-34) and not a fan/hate this (35-37).

I might do one after the show with some comments and rating, cause I have a feeling it can change a lot!:)

1.Finland 🇫🇮

2.Germany🇩🇪

3.Austria🇦🇹

4.Moldova 🇲🇩

5.Italy🇮🇹

6.Serbia🇷🇸

7.9.Czechia🇨🇿

8. Norway 🇳🇴

9.Slovenia 🇸🇮

10.Croatia🇭🇷

11.Armenia🇦🇲

12.Sweden 🇸🇪

13.Azerbijan🇦🇿

14.Latvia🇱🇻

15.Australia🇦🇺

16.Greece🇬🇷

17.Ireland🇨🇮

18.Israel🇮🇱

19.France🇫🇷

20.Cyprus🇨🇾

21.Albania🇦🇱

22.Estonia🇪🇪

23.Romania🇷🇴

24.Georgia🇬🇪

25.Ukraine🇺🇦

26.The Netherlands🇳🇱

27.UK🇬🇧

28.Portugal🇵🇹

29.Malta🇲🇹

30.Spain🇪🇸

31.Switzerland🇨🇭

32.Belgium🇧🇪

33.Lithuania🇱🇹

34.Iceland🇮🇸

35.San Marino🇸🇲

36.Denmark🇩🇰

37.Poland🇵🇱

[travelella]

Europe

Albania 🇦🇱

Andorra 🇦🇩

Armenia 🇦🇲

Austria 🇦🇹

Azerbaijan 🇦🇿

Belarus 🇧🇾

Belgium 🇧🇪

Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇧🇦

Bulgaria 🇧🇬

Croatia 🇭🇷

Cyprus 🇨🇾

Czechia 🇨🇿

Denmark 🇩🇰

Estonia 🇪🇪

Finland 🇫🇮

France 🇫🇷

Georgia 🇬🇪

Germany 🇩🇪

Greece 🇬🇷

Hungary 🇭🇺

Iceland 🇮🇸

Ireland 🇮🇪

Italy 🇮🇹

Kazakhstan 🇰🇿

Kosovo 🇽🇰

Latvia 🇱🇻

Liechtenstein 🇱🇮

Lithuania 🇱🇹

Luxembourg 🇱🇺

Malta 🇲🇹

Moldova 🇲🇩

Monaco 🇲🇨

Montenegro 🇲🇪

Netherlands 🇳🇱

North Macedonia 🇲🇰

Norway 🇳🇴

Poland 🇵🇱

Portugal 🇵🇹

Romania 🇷🇴

Russia 🇷🇺

San Marino 🇸🇲

Serbia 🇷🇸

Slovakia 🇸🇰

Slovenia 🇸🇮

Spain 🇪🇸

Sweden 🇸🇪

Switzerland 🇨🇭

Turkey 🇹🇷

Ukraine 🇺🇦

United Kingdom 🇬🇧(UK)

Vatican City 🇻🇦(Holy See)

[xtruss]

The EU Doesn’t Know How to Not Be a Vassal of the US Anymore

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has tried to show Americans how Washington has exploited Western Europe

— Bradley Blankenship | RT | August 22, 2023

(From L to R) US President Joe Biden, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the G7 Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima on May 19, 2023 © Kenny Holston/POOL/AFP

Tucker Carlson, of Fox News fame, recently met with Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic in Budapest, Hungary. The journalist pointed out that the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline has put a serious strain on the European Union’s economy and mentioned that the world was “resetting” in reaction to the conflict in Ukraine and the West’s pledged support for Kiev.

Carlson raises some good issues, and an important one to expand upon is the fact that the EU economy is lagging significantly since the outbreak of the war last year. A June piece by the Financial Times titled ‘Europe has fallen behind America and the gap is growing’ details how the EU is now considerably dependent on the US for its technological, security, and economic needs.

In terms of hard numbers, Jeremy Shapiro and Jana Puglierin of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) think tank have stated: “In 2008, the EU’s economy was somewhat larger than America’s: $16.2tn versus $14.7tn. By 2022, the US economy had grown to $25tn, whereas the EU and the UK together had only reached $19.8tn. America’s economy is now nearly one-third bigger. It is more than 50 per cent larger than the EU without the UK.”

The article goes on to describe a European Union that is dragging far behind the US and China in terms of quality universities, a less-than-pristine start-up environment, and lacking key benefits from its transatlantic peer – namely cheap energy. The Ukraine conflict has impacted the latter to the point that EU companies are paying three or four times what their American competitors are, with Washington being energy-independent and enjoying great domestic supplies. Meanwhile, energy from Russia is waning, European factories are closing in droves, and industry leaders are worried about the region’s future competitiveness.

The ECFR issued its own report on the matter in April, which is far blunter in describing the situation as a kind of “vassalization.” The summary of that report notes that the Ukraine war has exposed the EU’s key dependencies on the US, that over the course of a decade, the bloc has fallen behind the US in virtually every key metric, that it is deadlocked in disagreement and is looking to Washington for leadership.

The ECFR noted two causes for this situation. Firstly, despite the widely understood decline of the US compared to the rise of China, the transatlantic relationship has been unbalanced in Washington’s favor over the last 15 years since the 2008 financial crisis. The Biden administration is keen to exploit this and assert itself in the face of a disjointed Europe. Secondly, no one in the EU knows what greater strategic autonomy could look like – let alone agree on it if they did. There exists no process to decide the EU’s future in an autonomous way given the current status quo, which means US leadership is necessary.

This paints quite an interesting picture. Many commentators, including myself, have long documented the decline of the US and attributed it to a number of factors: less of an attractive environment for foreign direct investment (FDI), financial instability, corruption, and internal political turmoil. This is, of course, relativized to China, which has seen immense economic growth since the founding of the People’s Republic and particularly over the past four decades. But under the smoke screen of a fumbling America and a growing China, the EU has likewise fallen in stature.

The Western Establishment just gave itself a ‘World Peace and Liberty’ Award! Ursula von der Leyen received the ‘Judicial Equivalent’. The Western Establishment just gave itself a ‘World Peace and Liberty’ Award. Ursula von der Leyen received the ‘Judicial Equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize’ from Justin Trudeau in a perfect self-congratulatory orgy

As for the two causes noted by the ECFR, they seem to be intertwined. Many of the key issues that have faced the EU, from migration to the banking crisis to Covid-19, have stemmed directly from the non-federal nature of the EU. And the current political crises are a result of Euroskepticism, i.e. a backlash against what is perceived as an overreach from Brussels by some political organizations within the bloc. The EU is a complicated and sometimes cumbersome bureaucracy that is cherished by some, reviled by others, and, under these assumptions, is an impediment to strategic autonomy.

The ECFR essentially argues for the EU and Western European capitals to lean into the transatlantic partnership, but on terms favorable to themselves. This includes creating an independent security architecture within and complimentary to NATO, creating an economic NATO of sorts and even pursuing a European nuclear weapons program. At least the former two are acceptable, as abandoning the US outright would be politically foolish for the EU at this juncture. It certainly needs to develop a transatlantic free-trade agreement that puts an end to American trade protectionism.

However, the obvious point to help diversify the Western European economic portfolio, reduce genuinely problematic dependencies, and fuel growth is for the EU to develop peer-to-peer relations with the Global South. For one, the EU Parliament could right now ratify the China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) to help their companies gain market access in China and tap into one of the world’s largest consumer bases. I would also argue, as I’ve done in the past, that the EU and China could cooperate – rather than compete – on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the Global South because of Europe’s historical connections, due to its colonialist past.

What is clear is that the EU needs to diversify and back off from the transatlantic relationship. With much talk about ‘de-risking’, or even ‘de-coupling’, from China, Western Europe has actually gotten into the position where it is strategically dependent on Washington to the point of being outright vassalized. This is a bleak situation for the EU’s growth model and its hopes for strategic autonomy.

— Bradley Blankenship is an American Journalist, Columnist and Political Commentator. He has a syndicated column at CGTN and is a freelance reporter for international news agencies.

[lalosalamancaunofficial]

Hi lalo ❤️❤️🥰🥰 this is Gustavo 🐔🐤🍗 I am currently hitting the griddy ⚽🏈🏉 for ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦 join the discord 👾👾👽 server to hit the griddy 🕺🏈 for your country 🌎🌍🌏 look! 👀👁️😍 Lyle is currently hitting the griddy for the UK! 🇬🇧💷😬 Be like Lyle 🐊🐊

-Gustavo Fring ❤️🥰🥰💕

QUE HORROR

[paragontrip]

Where are you from??

🇨🇳China

🇮🇳India

🇵🇰Pakistan

🇻🇳Vietnam

🇰🇿Kazakhstan

🇺🇿Uzbekistan

🇦🇪UAE

🇲🇽Mexico

🇸🇬Singapore

🇮🇩Indonesia

🇵🇭Philippines

🇲🇾Malaysia

🇧🇩Bangladesh

🇪🇬Egypt

🇿🇦South Africa

🇧🇷Brazil

🇹🇷Turkey

🇨🇴Colombia

🇰🇪Kenya

🇵🇱Poland

🇯🇵Japan

🇩🇪Germany

🇬🇧UK

🇳🇿NZ

🇦🇺AU

🇺🇸USA

🇰🇷South Korea

🇩🇰Denmark

🇮🇹Italy

🇨🇦Canada

🇳🇱Netherlands

🇸🇪Sweden

🇨🇵France

🇧🇪Belgium

🇫🇮Finland

🇺🇦Ukraine

🇷🇺Russia

🇬🇷Greece

🇪🇦Spain

🇵🇹Portugal

[lebba-moonlight]

!! PINNED POST !!

Hey, I'm Lebba, AKA Nesya !! [ She/her ONLY , minor ]

I'm multifandom, however, my main interests are object shows, Alan Becker and solaraballs!

I'm multishipper and I like every ship unless it's not a proship!

^ However, my main OTPS are : KniFan, Suitloon, AnnouncerPhone! (Don't worry, I tag ships... Except announcerphone.)

I also run @announcerphoneweekly !

My account might be on:

Қазақ тілі 🇰🇿, English 🇬🇧, Deutsch 🇩🇪

I'm Pro - 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇦🇲🇹🇼🇨🇩🇸🇩🇻🇪🇱🇧 + all other occupied countries!

DNI :

C0mmunists/n4siz/f4scists, Basic list, Zionists, Pro-russia, proshippers and other shit. Just be a decent human being!

MORE INFO ABOUT ME >

BTW if you can, please help 🌻 and 🍉 !!! !!! !!!

+

[mokhosz-nafo]

⚡️⚡️⚡️

🇫🇷🇬🇧🚀 France and UK authorized Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with their SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles, - Le Figaro

🇺🇸✅ The United States “gave the green light to the use of long-range missiles,” a US official confirmed to AFP.